IT STARTED with a passion, then came the cold call in the spring of 2019 — and that was followed by the green light to begin submitting designs for approval. The passion belonged to sculptor Djordje Djokovic, a longtime industry presence churning out work for companies like McFarlane, Four Horsemen Studios, and NECA. Djokovic was capable of a wide range of styles, but there were always a couple of properties that were dream projects for him. Gargoyles was one of them. He was a big fan of the Greg Weisman–created animated series, which aired for three seasons in the mid-1990s. He would even take to drawing the show’s characters in his college notebooks from time to time.
NECA vice president of product development Randy Falk called his consumer products representative at Walt Disney Co., the license-holder for Gargoyles. NECA products had long been influenced by the current wave of nostalgia sweeping through the marketplace — tapping properties from the 1980s ripe for updating. Their most recent success has been the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line, pumping out 7-inch-scale figures from the animated series, the live-action movies, video games, and more.
“Our biggest ongoing line for a while has been Turtles, and that’s on the cusp of the end of the ’80s into the early ’90s,” says Falk. “So, we’ve gradually crept our way up into ’90s territory. After Turtles, the next big thing there for us and certainly for animation to me was Gargoyles. Either Gargoyles or Batman: The Animated Series, and we can’t do anything DC. So, it was like, it’s 25 years since there’s been anything, and it hadn’t come back in any way, shape, or form. So, I approached Disney to see if they would be interested in licensing it and if there were any current brand plans because you never know. They have it on Disney+. I contacted Disney and asked if they’d be interested in licensing it and ensuring the rights were clear. Their response was, ‘Gargoyles?’”
Gargoyles was created by Greg Weisman and ran for three seasons from 1994 to 1997. Weisman was director of series development at Disney when he conceived the show with his development team. It was initially pitched as a comedy adventure in the style of Adventures of the Gummi Bears, believe it or not. It was only after the pitch was retooled as a more edgy, action/drama similar to Batman: The Animated Series that Disney bought it and put the show in production. Kenner Toys licensed the property and produced 5-inch-scale action figures, vehicles, and playsets based on the property from 1995 to 1997.
Djokovic was ready for the challenge of taking on such a personal project to him. He had already completed a pitch sculpt of chief good guy Goliath and pitched that to NECA. Soon, everyone was on board, and the NECA Gargoyles line was in development. This stage of the process consists of a lot of back and forth between all parties. NECA would make drawings or build concept sheets and create a pitch deck filled with their aspirations for the line — character design, scale, accessories. For example, for Lexington, it made sense for him to have a computer because he was the tech wiz or maybe an RC car, little nods to things that appeared in the series. These are all submitted to Disney to ensure it is all above board and there is nothing problematic in the plans.
“In our modern world, we want to make sure we have stuff that’s appropriate to the character and that will be okay and won’t cause any problems for the studio or anyone else,” says Falk. “Once those are approved, we start sculpting.”
NECA took a measured approach with Gargoyles. Instead of releasing waves of figures, the line is being introduced to retail one at a time. According to Falk, that decision was made for a few different reasons, including reducing time to market — you can get one figure to stores quicker than you can six — and it helps space out A-list and secondary characters. Hence, a mix can be stretched out over time before all of the leading players are introduced.
This decision, however, does not pertain to the development schedule as several characters are developed at once, then introduced into the production queue. To date, NECA has released Goliath, Thailog, Demona, and Bronx. Having a development plan that takes on several characters at once has already come into play as NECA moved to get the line in stores during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re able to move pieces around and shift things into different slots,” says Falk. “For example, a figure like Thailog would come much later because, in essence, it’s a secondary character and a repaint of Goliath with some new parts. However, there were delays in production on some of the other characters. So the schedule shifted, resulting in figures coming out sooner than originally planned. Everything is always in motion, especially the last two and a half years. Best laid plans don’t mean a whole lot anymore. We’re at the mercy of a million things out of our control.”
Djokovic has been responsible for all of the sculptures for the Gargoyles figures you can currently go and buy. He also did Hudson and Brooklyn, which at press time are available for preorder but have not hit stores yet. He is also responsible for Coldstone and has also done work on other, as-yet-unannounced figures in the line.
The approach to the line was critical to all players — and a decision was needed. Either NECA would honor the animated form and translate what we all see on the screen to action figure form or there would be a greater sense of realism and stylization to the monstrous forms.
“It needed to be modernized, in terms of making it more fleshed out and more defined both in terms of anatomy and, again, the tactile nature of all of the textures that needed to be more lifelike,” explains Djokovic. “I decided, in some way a little selfishly, thinking that this is the most authentic, honest, and true interpretation of them. I was thinking of pushing it as far as possible but still staying as true as possible, to the original soul to the original ideas in the original design. I did not want it to be my interpretation and fantasizing about deviating from the design parameters of what the characters are. I wanted to maintain all of the silhouettes, all of the main facial or body characteristics of all those characters. I am absolutely in love with what those wonderful artists back in the ’90s did because they did it so damn well. It doesn’t need to be redesigned. It doesn’t need to be reimagined in any way. It needs to be celebrated, preserved, and then nurtured into a slightly further step.”
For Coldstone, Djokovic approached the figure differently than the others, mainly because he is a unique character amongst the other gargoyles — the show’s version of Frankenstein’s monster. Coldstone was pieced together from parts of other gargoyles, state-of-the-art robotics, and reanimated by evil industrialist David Xanatos, the recurring antagonist of the gargoyles in the show.
“One of the main reasons he was different was because he needed to look like a mixture of the three gargoyles, obviously, and he needed to look slightly sinister, but not in an overly aggressive way — in a more zombified, devoid of life, and slightly confused way,” he says. “That was what my aim was in terms of his face. In terms of his body, it was fun to flesh out because the whole idea was that he was reanimated stone, not flesh. I thought if we expand on it and put some seam lines on him where you see where the pieces got put together and kind of stitch it up.”
Given the organic and mechanical makeup of the figure, there was a conversation about doing the sculpting part digitally and part traditionally. Everything robotic and symmetrical would be left to ZBrush and the remainder sculpted traditionally.
“Djordje is a huge fan of the character,” says Falk. “He was very passionate about wanting to handle all of it traditionally, and he had a lot of good ideas that made me feel comfortable that he could handle the parts. We’ve worked together a long time. You’ve got to trust your people and let them do what they do best, and he delivered on that. It is a spectacular figure.”
Geoff Trapp painted the figure and captured the subtle difference in gray between the other gargoyles that made up Coldstone.
Coldstone also features a second growling head, a jet pack ignition flame, a laser blast effect, a skull with a candle accessory, and more. His metal wings and ball-end metal tail complete his unique design.
Speaking of wings, if there has been one knock on the line from fans, it has been the massive wingspans given to the Gargoyles — one wing is easily longer as the figure is tall. The result is a figure that takes up a lot of shelf space that many feel it shouldn’t. Fans should know, however, that the original plan for the wing was not what made the final product.
Djokovic sculpted a wing design with an additional point of articulation that would allow it to fold down and be carried similar to how the characters appear in the cartoon.
“Not only was it (the wing) designed and sculpted, it was even tooled,” confirms Falk. “But it did not work as intended. No matter what we did, whether it was ratcheting reinforcing — there was no way to ensure that it would hold up in production and do what it was supposed to do. It was too floppy, or if we increased the thickness, then it was too brittle, and it was breaking when you were trying to pose it in and move that other joint. It even delayed the release and announcement of the line as we went back and forth. It’s not possible at this point with manufacturing and the price point. We’re trying to be at about a $35 retail or less.”
While the wide wingspan may be upsetting to some, NECA always had an ace up its sleeve. The plan from the outset was to find a way to offer draped wings for all of the gargoyles and was not done to appease vocal fans. That was a bonus. The draped wings are slotted to be introduced as pack-ins with physically smaller characters, like Goliath’s wings that came with the Bronx figure.
Coldstone is just one of the Gargoyles figures on the release schedule for 2023. Revealed at the 2022 edition of San Diego Comic-Con, fans can expect the rest of the Manhattan Clan: Lexington and Broadway, Steel Clan Robot, David Xanatos and Angela with newborn Angela. There is much more planned, including a handful that have already been sculpted, but NECA wants to keep those a secret for now.
As for what to expect at retail next, it will include the already shown Brooklyn and Hudson. Broadway and Lexington should follow. If the universe plays nice, all four could show up at retail before the year’s end.
So what does creator Weisman think of NECA’s take on these classic characters?
“l love what I’ve seen,” he says. “I was thrilled when I heard about it. It was a big surprise. When Goliath was first hinted at and then announced, and then as they keep doing more characters, that’s what we always wanted was a fuller slate than Kenner was willing to do for us. I understand Goliath is the lead, of course. The fact that they’re doing Thailog, Demona, and all these are the characters. It’s exciting. I love their look and all the little extras they included — the Grimorum Arcanorum … and jalapeño pepper is hilarious. Unfortunately, someone knocked over my Goliath and the pepper hit the floor. I have searched for that thing and cannot find it. So, I think the vacuum cleaner got it. I’ve asked Randy for a replacement.”
The new attention being focused on Gargoyles thanks to show access on streamer Disney+ and the new product from NECA has apparently moved the needle on new stories being told about Goliath and the rest of the Manhattan Clan.
Just announced at Comic-Con in San Diego, Weisman has been tapped by Dynamite Entertainment to write a new Gargoyles comic set to debut next year.
There is more to the story. See it all in TOYCOLLECTR Issue 1 available through BigBadToyStore, TOYSTLKR and other online retailers.